Friday, April 29, 2011

Sporting Kc To Take On Red-Hot New York Red Bulls

The Set Up
As mentioned in the title, NYRB is on fire. They've scored 7 goals in the past 2 games, 3 of those goals coming from French International Henry. And now, a tired Kansas City defense that has let in 2.4 goals per game, will try and stop the likes of Henry, Rodgers, and De Rosario. Furthermore, how good of a forward line do you have when Juan Agudelo is coming off of the bench for you? A pretty good one.

But, there is hope. Aurelien Collin, for me, played very well last week. That is, until the whole red card disaster that arguably gave New England the advantage over SKC. Also, who else thinks Besler is making very good progress at center back? I do. He's started every game this season and has really improved since last year's campaign.


New York's Threats
This game will be the toughest game SKC have played this season. There is no question about it. For starters NYRB's new defender and Norwegian International Jan Solli is in fine form. Along with De Rosario who will play in the CAM role for NY and will definitely look for his first goal of the season. Richards is always a threat on the right wing, as is the highly underrated player, and Estonian International, Joel Lindpere.

The Projected Starting Lineup


                                               Bunbury

Sapong                                                                                     Kamara



                             Arnaud                           Stojcev

                                                Auvray

Espinoza                                                                                 Harrington

                             Besler                              Collin        
                                                   
                                                   Nielsen
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Subs: Kronberg, Myers, Thomas, Rocastle, Zusi, Aiyegbusi, Smith
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Smith could definitely start over Sapong, but unfortunately he's not 100%. Those who are for sure out of the game are as follows: Diop(suspension), Bravo(injured), Warzycha(injured). Also, Lorenz could be in the subs in place of Myers. Other than that the most powerful, athletic, and fastest front line in MLS should be firing on all cylinders. Smith is the only forward out of 4 to not score, which is a good sign.

Score Prediction
SKC 2 - NYRB 2,  (Kamara, Bunbury), (Henry, Agudelo)

Final Summary
Soccer is such a fantastic game because of one fact, any team can beat any team, anywhere. One thing is for certain though, this game will be a high-scoring match. Sporting enter as last in the Eastern Conference with 4 points and New York enter as top in the East with 11 points, however, SKC have scored a goal more this season than NY has. Honestly this game could end in a tie for either team, it just matters who will play with more aggression, let's just hope that it's our Mighty Blues that walk away with three points.

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